The Hitchhiker
by Aradia2
Summary: Jackie and Hyde find themselves in the middle of an Urban Legend.


Title: The Hitchiker  
  
Author: Aradia  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to That 70's Show. I am writing this for entertainment purposes only and am not receiving any monetary value for it.  
  
Rating: G  
  
Summary: They're lost and somehow there's a hitch-hiker.  
  
!!!  
  
"We're lost."  
  
"We are not lost, Steven. I know exactly where we are."  
  
"We should have stayed on the highway."  
  
"But I found a short cut!"  
  
"We've been driving for two hours. In what way is that short?"  
  
"Just turn right up here."  
  
"Up where?" Hyde asked. Jackie glanced up from the map and stared at the dead end sign that was sitting a few feet from where Hyde had stopped the El Camino. A road barrier held up the sign and trees surrounded them in a deserted cul-de-sac.  
  
"I don't understand. The map says there should be an intersection."  
  
"Let me see that." Hyde tore the map from Jackie's hands and, ignoring her glare, tried to figure out where they were. "Jackie,"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Did you happen to notice in your brilliant reading of the map that it was upside down?"  
  
"No?"  
  
!!!  
  
A half hour later and they were driving down an empty highway still lost miles from home. Jackie hugged her coat closer to her and turned the heat up in the car. Hyde immediately turned it back down. Jackie turned it back up. They continued their silent war until Jackie sat back with a huff and glared out the window. She was determined to spend the rest of the drive home giving Hyde the cold shoulder but less then five minutes later she was jabbering on about how this was really all his fault. Why did he let her be in charge of the map anyway? And where did he think they were? Why did he make her go to this stupid stoner's party out in the middle of nowhere?  
  
"You wanted to go remember?" Hyde said. "You begged me to go."  
  
"I did not."  
  
"You did."  
  
"Pretty girls don't beg. It's unbecoming."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
Again they drove in perpetual silence. Jackie stared out the window. Every once in a while she would sigh softly and then glance toward Hyde to see if he noticed. Hyde was too busy trying to drive the car, shift and hold the map to pay any attention to her, not that he would have anyway.  
  
"Hey, look, hitch-hiker." Jackie said as they flew passed a young girl with her thumb held out toward the road. "We could have picked her up. Maybe she knows where we are." Jackie flung back in her seat.  
  
"We don't need directions. I'll figure it out. Just gimme a damn minute."  
  
"Steven, we're completely lost and you can't even hold the map upright. How are you going to read it?"  
  
"I'm handling it. Why don't you help me out and hold the map up so I can see it." Jackie rolled her eyes and grabbed the map. She held it up with one hand above the shifter and Hyde glanced back and forth from it to the road.  
  
!!!  
  
Twenty minutes later and they were still lost. Finally, Jackie threw the map into the backseat, crossed her arms and stared at Hyde. Hyde tried to turn around enough to get the map back but almost ran them off the road in the process. The car was moving fast right into a tree when Jackie screamed and grabbed the wheel. Hyde slammed on the brakes, tires screamed and they screeched to a stop on the wrong side of the road half, tipped onto the grassy shoulder.  
  
"Steven!" Jackie shouted in her highest voice. She was breathing hard and gripping the arm rest. Hyde stared dazedly out the window for a moment before jumping back and grabbing Jackie's arms.  
  
"Are you okay? Jesus, you're not hurt are you?"  
  
"You almost killed me!"  
  
"Guess you're okay." Hyde let her go and sat back in his seat. "So what was that about a hitch-hiker?"  
  
!!!  
  
It didn't take them long to find her. She was still standing on the side of the road with her thumb out. Hyde pulled over and rolled down his window.  
  
"Where you headed?" He asked.  
  
"Point Place." The girl said. Her teeth were chattering and Jackie could hardly make out what she said. Jackie was all for fashion but the girl was wearing the tiniest shirt Jackie had ever seen and it was freezing outside.  
  
"Us too. Do you know how to get there?" Hyde asked. The girl shook her head in the affirmative and practically dived into the car. She sighed at the blast of heat but didn't stop shivering.  
  
"There's a coat on the floor that should probably fit you." Hyde said.  
  
"Hey, that's my coat!" Jackie said.  
  
"Jackie, she's freezing."  
  
"Fine, but be careful. It's brand new."  
  
The girl smiled gratefully and pulled the purple coat on, "I'm Alice." She said.  
  
"Hyde. This is Jackie."  
  
"It's nice to meet you both."  
  
"Yeah, it's probably nice to meet anyone with a car and a heater. Why were you out there anyway?" Jackie asked.  
  
"I was at this party and my ride ditched me. I couldn't find anyone else in any condition to take me home."  
  
"You were at the stoner party?" Jackie asked.  
  
"Yeah, we don't usually call it that. It's just a few blocks back."  
  
"See. We weren't that lost." Jackie smiled up at Hyde. He continued to watch the road but a small smile showed briefly on his face.  
  
!!!  
  
On the drive home Alice and Jackie talked and Alice directed Hyde. Jackie was surprised to find out how much they had in common. She had something in common with a stoner hitch-hiker in slut-wear? It was definitely Steven's influence.  
  
"Well, I'm hoping to try out for the squad next year." Alice was saying. "I cheered in Kenosha from junior high up to high school."  
  
"Well, you're in luck. You happen to be talking to Point Place's head cheerleader. As long as you do okay at try-outs I can guarantee you a spot on the squad."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Sure. You're not a slut though are you? We already have a slut on the squad."  
  
"I'm not aware of any sluttiness in my history."  
  
"Great! Consider yourself a Point Place Cheerleader."  
  
"One more cheerleader comment and you both are going to be hitchhiking home." Hyde finally said. The girls giggled but stopped talking. Jackie wasn't entirely sure he was kidding.  
  
!!!  
  
After being out on the road for four hours, including being lost for two, Hyde pulled up to an old Victorian and parked.  
  
"Hyde get the door for her." Jackie said.  
  
"What? It's freezing out there."  
  
"Be a gentleman."  
  
"I'm not a gentleman."  
  
"I'm sorry, Alice, he's so rude." Jackie said. She glared at Hyde but her voice was all sugar and sweet to make up for Hyde's lack of manners.  
  
"Uh, Jackie?" Hyde said. He was looking toward her with a confused look on his face.  
  
"What?"  
  
"She's gone."  
  
"Huh?" Jackie whirled around only to discover that the girl had in fact disappeard. "Where'd she go? She took my coat!"  
  
"She stole your coat?" Hyde laughed. "And I thought she was hopeless."  
  
"Steven, this isn't funny. She took my coat after all I'd done for her."  
  
"You didn't actually do anything for her."  
  
"Well, I said I would and she just took it. Go get it."  
  
"You go get it."  
  
"But it's dark and scary. What if they're murderers?"  
  
"They aren't murderers." But Hyde looked back at the house. It was kind of old and rundown, like the place a murderer would live. "We'll come back in the morning." He finally decided. He put the car into gear and sped off. Jackie pouted the entire way home.  
  
!!!  
  
Jackie bounced into Hyde's room bright and early the next morning. She slammed the door open and pounced onto the bed. Hyde groaned and stuck his head under the pillow.  
  
"Steven, get up."  
  
Hyde grunted at her.  
  
"Steven." She whined. She shook his shoulder and pulled the pillow off his head.  
  
"Jackie, give me back my pillow and go away. It's like 8am."  
  
"But you promised we'd get my coat today."  
  
"I lied."  
  
"Steven." Hyde's ears ringed from her high pitched whine. He sat up, tried to reclaim his pillow but she was stronger than she looked. Finally, he looped an arm around her waist and pulled her down to the bed beside him.  
  
"Go back to sleep. We'll get your coat later."  
  
"I wanna go now."  
  
"No."  
  
"But you promised."  
  
"No."  
  
"But she might sell it or tear it or spill something on it!"  
  
"No."  
  
"Fine." Jackie settled in beside him and nestled her head onto his chest. Thank God. Hyde thought. He closed his eyes and started to drift off to sleep.  
  
"Please." And there it was; the 'Puppy Dog Please'. It just wasn't fair.  
  
"Fine." He muttered and refused to be happy when she kissed him.  
  
!!!  
  
"You knock."  
  
"It's your coat."  
  
"Please." It wasn't the 'Puppy Dog Please'. Thank God.  
  
"No." Hyde leaned against the porch rail and slid his sunglasses down onto his nose. Jackie pouted but turned to knock on the door. Before she could raise her fist the door opened. Jackie let out a shriek and jumped back. It was a serial killer for sure! She was going to die before she got to be a weather girl.  
  
Instead of a serial killer standing in front of her as Jackie imagined, an elderly woman in a house dress stood leaning on a cane.  
  
"Can I help you?" The woman asked.  
  
"Your daughter or grand-daughter or whatever stole my coat!"  
  
"Excuse me?" The woman asked.  
  
"We dropped a hitch-hiker off here last night." Hyde said.  
  
"We gave her a ride and I was supremely nice to her and she stole my coat. You tell Alice I want it back." The woman's face paled to an ashen gray and her hand came up to her heart. Hyde jumped off the railing he was sitting on and started for her. She looked like she was having a heart attack.  
  
"That's not funny. You horrible children. Do you think it's funny to hurt an old woman?"  
  
"What?" Jackie asked confused.  
  
"This isn't funny. Just go home and leave me alone."  
  
"Lady, I'm not going anywhere 'till Alice gives me my coat back."  
  
"Stop it! Stop saying her name!"  
  
"Just tell her to give it back."  
  
"She can't give anything back. She's dead. My grand-daughter has been dead for years."  
  
"Very funny. Just go get her. Please." Jackie said. Her jaw clenched with tension and she had to restrain herself from punching the old lady. She was as bad as Alice.  
  
"I told you she's dead. She's buried in the cemetery at the end of the road. Alice Straton is dead." The old woman slammed the door on them. Jackie and Hyde stood there staring at the door.  
  
"No way." Hyde said.  
  
"She was alive. This is just one screwed up way to cheat me out of a very expensive coat."  
  
"Let's go check it out. We'll call them on it."  
  
!!!  
  
Jackie walked gingerly behind Hyde. She stepped carefully over the ice patches and hung onto Hyde's jacket sleeves. Her heels were not made to be walking around a graveyard in the middle of December.  
  
"Let's try the next row." Hyde said.  
  
"It's not here. I'm cold. I want to go back. I'll just stand on that porch until Alice gets so sick of me she gives the coat back."  
  
"It's just as cold on that porch and there's only one row left."  
  
"Steven, we've been here for hours and haven't found it. It's not here."  
  
"We've been here ten minutes."  
  
"It's still not here."  
  
"Oh, really. Then what's that?" Hyde asked. Jackie lifted her face from his jacket and gasped. Less than five feet in front of her was a small plain gravestone bearing the name Alice Straton and draped across it was Jackie's purple coat. 


End file.
